The moon was slightly hidden behind the light clouds in the night sky as its light shone down upon the city of Qinchao, guards walking along the town walls on patrol while the villagers were attending a bazaar inside.
In front of every house and building's front door, one would find a small doll and there stood great towering effigies in the town's square where young girls and boys were doing a tribal ritual dance around them.
The crown jewel of the city though was the three-story stone teahouse in the centre of town, where adults were seated and conversing with each other while others were walking around to the stalls set up around it.
However, on this night, a cold darkness was seated in the shadows of the city with arms crossed, Toji dressed in a black hooded cloak that hid his body and face from view while he observed the crowd for his second last target.
It's been two weeks since he started being a bounty hunter and he had to admit that the life was more entertaining than he had expected.
Unlike the regular civilians and the odd curse user or two that he had to hunt down in his past life, the denizens of this reality all had some martial arts skill as well as their different bending styles.
The latter was a particular thing that he had found quite interesting even if he himself did not have it as he could see elements of martial arts from his past life in how they used it.
However, he also had to admit that he had fun learning just how each one worked, from the counter-based fighting style of Waterbending to the defensive fighting style of Earthbending and finally the offensive fighting style of Firebending.
He was a bit bummed out when he realized that all the Airbenders and their evasive-based fighting style was something he would no longer be able to face off against, but he still had three other nations to torment with his name.
'And there's no Gojo Satoru here to take away my fame', Yeah, Toji was still petty at the fact that people forgot about his name only because Gojo Satoru became more infamous and feared amongst sorcerers than his own name.
The only name that he felt would have the same weight as Gojo's name was that of the Avatar, but considering that one had been dead for almost a century, he didn't have to worry about that to be honest.
'Ah, should I make the name Sorcerer Killer known here? What would I be called then? Bender Hunter?', Toji thought with a smirk before focusing as he saw his target talking happily with those around him.
'Dan-Kung, the right-hand man of Captain Mosi who is one of the commanders under Kangana herself. He has a crew of sixty scattered throughout the town acting as civilians and guards and he never lets anyone other than his right-hand man Lakwang near him.'
"It appears that most of his men are hidden amongst the crowd", To the normal person, Dan-Kung's crew would have been unnoticeable, but to the trained eye and especially Toji's supernatural ones, the slight bumps and bulges that came from them having hidden their weapons under their clothes were something he couldn't ignore if he wanted to.
'Hah, it's a good thing the entire Armada has a gold piece or more for each of their heads or else I would have just killed Kangana and moved on', Would that have created a power vacuum where the crews slaughtered not only each other, but also civilians that were caught in the war?
Undoubtedly so, but the thing was…Toji didn't care as long as he got paid.
With a deep breath, the young boy quickly leapt from wall to wall in rapid succession, thankful for his training as an assassin as he quickly made his way to the roof and rolled flat across it while pulling out his new weapons.
Clipping on one bolt to the crossbow, Toji readied himself as he focused on the sound of Dan-Kung's footsteps, lying close to the edge before lifting his arm and shooting the bolt upwards in a slight curve.
Quickly notching another one, he aimed directly behind his head and slightly off to the right from where he previously aimed before firing the second arrow, hearing the shouts of panic and surprise of the first one missing before smirking at the panic shouts of the pirate crew when the second one hit flesh.
'And that should be it. Now to get his body', Toji thought as he hooked his crossbow onto his back, rolling over onto his stomach and looking over the edge to see a group of three pirates surrounding Dan-Kung's body while a dozen or so of them stood in a circle while glaring out to anyone that drew near.
With a loud whistle, he made them all look at him as he stood up with a cocky smirk, taking his crossbow off to wave it around with a taunting smile before clipping it onto his back once more and taking off right as they all rushed to the building.
However, he dropped into a slide right as he reached the edge, grabbing it with both hands before kicking open the window below him and landing in the room with a surprised man and woman.
"Apologies", Toji whispered as he continued running, ducking to the left and leaping through the window with a spin to land on the rooftop below.
Punching the ground and pulling out three rocks, Toji leapt towards the square right as the three pirates that were with Dan-Kung's body looked towards him, but it was too late for them as he aimed before throwing all three rocks in rapid succession.
Only one got hit dead-centre in the throat with one of the three rocks while the other two stumbled out of the way, the boy shifting to battle mode instantly as he landed with a roll to duck under the first pirate's slash while unsheathing his butterfly sword as the second one lunged at him.
With a spin, Toji flipped over his attack while stabbing backwards with his own swords, the sound of gargling echoing in the air as the pirate fell forward with his sword in his neck before the boy reached forward and caught the wrist of the first pirate.
The man looked surprised as he strained to push down, but Toji smirked as he quickly punched the outside of his elbow outwards and snapped it, grabbing the sword and slicing the pirate's head off right as he screamed.
Quickly ripping his butterfly sword out and wiping it clean on one of the pirate's clothes, Toji rushed forward and threw Dan-Kung's body over his shoulder, removing the bolt sticking through the sides of his skull before taking off as he saw the pirate crew returning.
The crowd tried to block his path, but a simple bloodthirsty grin quickly made them move out of the way as he leapt on top of a stall and onto a rooftop, jumping from rooftop to rooftop before leaping onto the town walls.
"Halt! Put him down and surrender, boy!", He looked at the guard that shouted that before snorting as he rushed forward, leaping off with a grunt right as one of the guardsman charged at him.
However, their eyes widened at the sight of a komodo rhino charging through and catching Toji mid-drop, the boy grunting as he landed on the new cart attached to the back of Iron before grinning as he dropped Dan-Kung onto it and waved at the guardsmen.
"Remember this as the day that you almost stopped The Huntsman!"
'…Yeah, that won't work out at all.'
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"Didn't you just leave yesterday for your mission?", Yung, the bartender of the Misty Spring, said with a smirk as Toji waltzed in, none of the hunters daring to look at him as the boy smirked and sat down at a seat near the counter.
"I decided to do an all-nighter and get the job done. Then, I caught sight of Dan-Kung, one of the guys you told me about, so I took him out too."
"After you got information on his boss' whereabouts, right?", Yung asked with a raised eyebrow before shaking his head as Toji snorted.
"There's no chance he had any information on where Mosi would be and even less information on where Kangana would be considering she doesn't trust anyone other than maybe her second-in-command. You said it yourself, right?"
"Yeah, so how are you going to get her then?", He asked and Toji smirked as he shrugged.
"I've found a few ways to get most of her men. While doing so, I'll leave one member of each crew alive and leave them my name. At some point, she'll have to take action against me or risk looking weak in front of a crew and one thing all pirate crews have in common is that there's always someone that's looking to take charge. You just have to entice them."
"I see. Looks like you have all of this planned out."
"Eh, somewhat. There's still a few pieces missing but until then, can I get another ten bolts and another Iron mealpack? Turns out the big guy thinks he gets a meal every time we come back."
"Only you would treat a komodo rhino like a puppy", Yung muttered with a shake of his head as he got the items that were requested, smirking as Toji gave him a pouch filled with silver coins while taking his items.
"And as always, you give some generous payments. Come again."
"I will", Toji spoke with a smirk as he stood up and walked towards the exit, pleased at the fear he had put in everyone as no one would even dare look at him when he walked out of the bar.
Even as he walked across the town that is the Misty Palms Oasis, not a single person dared to speak as he moved past them, Toji whistling happily as he made his way to the outskirts.
As he did, he had to chuckle at the sight of Iron lying next to the cart while another body was crushed below him, the person's head and upper body nothing but a bloody paste in the sand while their lower body twitched randomly.
"Another one that thought they could steal?", He asked as Iron stood up, the beast snorting and making Toji chuckle as he untied the bag of food before letting it drop open to let Iron use it as a plate.
Reaching for the rags in the cart, Toji wiped off the blood from Iron before kicking the lower body and chunks of the upper body that had survived into the komodo rhino's foot pile, who didn't even look phased as it easily chewed up the body with clothes and all.
"Man, people are stupid. Anyway, we got another journey in front of us, Iron. Think you could make the trip?", Toji asked as he set up his shade on the cart, scooping out a bowl of water from one of the water barrels and taking a sip from it before placing the rest down next to Iron.
The beast in question shook his head with a huff as he greedily lapped up the water and Toji nodded as he finished tying the knots of his cloth that he used for shade down to the corners of the cart.
"Yeah, I don't want us to move during the day either, but we have to. Don't worry, this is not an all-nighter this time. We're taking at least two or three days with this one so we'll rest during the night", He said and smirked as Iron gave a huff before nodding to the guard.
"Gotcha", Toji nodded as he placed the harnesses onto Iron, leaping onto the cart before relaxing as the beast began jogging away from the Misty Palms Oasis and to the south-east.
"Back to the sea, boy, and then to your cave. You're going to get some nice days off, but I'm going to be very busy."
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"Man, guess they upped the border outposts' fortifications", Toji muttered with a frown as he hid amongst the trees, watching as numerous people patrolled the area that he had passed on his way back to the Oasis compared to the small group of three that he had seen.
However, it appears that the pirates had foregone their need to hide away as each of them were dressed in the signature scarlet red jackets and hats of the Crimson Sails Armada and an array of different weaponry.
'Could I sneak past?', Toji thought with a hum as his sharp vision scanned the patrol patterns and the outpost, taking note of every detail before smirking as he dropped down from the tree.
"Iron knows how to forage and hunt for his own meals, knows that he has to hide away in his cave and he knows that any clear rivers means clean water, so there's only thing left to do", Crouching lowly, Toji grunted as he leapt towards the first tree, looking at his second tree even as he landed and pushed off of the first one.
Feeling his body getting lighter with each jump that he made, Toji was naught but a blur as he rapidly leapt from tree to tree, his vision adjusting to his rapid jumping as he quickly made his way to the border.
With a spin and a flourish, Toji ripped off a branch before throwing it off to the side, jumping in the opposite direction as the sound of it cracking a tree open drew everyone's attention just enough for him to leap through the gap in security and made his way across the border.
Grabbing another pair of branches, he spun and threw them hard before continuing on with his journey to new places, smirking at the sound of pained screams echoing when his branches impaled two pirates.
Ah, nothing like the sound of screams to rejuvenate the soul.
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"Damn, the sea is a lot more clearer in this world too", Toji muttered as he stood on the coarse sands of a beach, looking out at the waves slowly coming in before he sighed as Hana's giggles echoed in his mind.
'That was a long time ago, Toji. You need to let it go now', He repeated to himself as he shook his head and began making his way towards the one village he has found, not caring for it as much as he cared for the sailboat that had red sails and a black skull-and-bones on the front of it.
Looking at the small crew that were putting their cargo onto the ship, Toji hummed as he saw two of them breaking away, realizing this may be his chance to get some real information as he began to follow them.
"You hear about him?", The one on the left began and Toji raise an eyebrow at the cryptic way they were speaking as the one on the right nodded.
"Yeah, a shame too. The captain was really starting to like him."
"The captain only liked him because he gave him good gifts. Other than that, he was treated the same as any other worker."
"You would think so, but I hear he got more privileges than some of the older workers", The one on the right answered and the one on the left looked surprised as they entered a bar, Toji closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before pinching his nose as he sat down outside the bar.
"Seriously? Like what?"
"You know, less taxes, more of the better gifts that he could keep. I even heard the captain talking about how he wanted to give him a better ship to trade more cargo."
"…Damn, that is better than most. Hell, that's even better than what we got and we're some of the older workers the captain's got."
"I know, right? Hah, sometimes giving the captain some 'special' attention gets you all the stuff you need."
'Special attention?…Ah, I see', Toji thought with a hum of realization as he let go of his nose and opened his eyes, letting out his breath slowly as he realized that Dan-Kung was most likely giving the captain some 'under-the-table' treatment to get the crew that he wanted.
After all, there were rumours that his crew had exploded from having just five members to the large sixty he had and while this did line up with the new information he had gotten, he was not one to judge another man for the ways he made his money.
Money made the world turn and sleeping with another man for status was no different than killing a man to make money.
The only difference was in how they collected bodies in their journey to the top.
It was a few more minutes before Toji heard the pirates come out, having purposefully thrown his hood over his head while sharpening his sword with a whetstone as he heard them stopping.
"Hey, kid", He heard one of them call out and didn't say anything as he continued sharpening, rolling his eyes at the pirates' predictable nature as they walked closer and lifted his hood up.
The moment he looked up, he smirked at their eyes widening before the first lost his head, the second reaching for his dadao only to get his partner's own dadao to his foot right as Toji leapt to his feet and stabbed his dagger right through the man's skull.
"Huh, not a bad blade, this one", The boy muttered as he cleaned off his weapons before sheathing them, having spoken of the dadao of the first pirate he had used as he lifted it and swung it a few times.
It felt light in his grasp and the design almost reminded him of his Split Soul Katana as he took the sword's sheath and clipped it to his right side, readjusting his butterfly sword to where the hilt was pointing to the left before nodding as he began making his way to the boat.
Slowly unsheathing both the dadao and the butterfly sword as he walked down the pier, Toji smirked as he saw the pirates looking at him with wide eyes when he reached up and threw his hood back.
"My first question to you all is…who wants to survive and who wants to die?"
A/N: And the first chapter ends with Toji going on a massacre to find his target, which is something he would not normally do but how else is a guy supposed to get people to fear you.
Anyway, next chapter is the end of this little arc and a year or two time-skip before we meet a major character from the canon timeline.
Who? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
And now, like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!